classics digests, reflections and reviews
The Character of the Government In order to ascertain the real character of the government, it may be considered in relation to the foundation on which it is to be established; to the sources from which its ordinary powers are to be drawn; to the operation of those powers; to the extent of them; and to the authority by which future changes in the government are to be introduced. On […]
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I’ve always known Don Quixote by name, and thought he was a clown. I never understood why a novel about a clown was so popular, even considered one of the greatest ever written, until I read it recently for the first time, and realized who Don Quixote really is: he is everyman. He dreams of travelling around the world in search of adventures (Having being cooped up at home by […]
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Who Wants to Live Forever [The struldbrugs, or immortals] commonly acted like mortals till about thirty years old; after which, by degrees, they grew melancholy and dejected, .. When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying. They […]
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The Song of Troilus If there’s no love, 0 God! What am I feeling? If there is love, who then, and what, is he? If love be good whence comes this sorrow stealing? If evil, what a wonder it is to me When every torment and adversity That comes of him is savoury, to my thinking! The more I thirst, the more I would be drinking. And if so be […]
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The Pains of Hell St. Jerome says, “Every time I remember the day of doom, I quake; for when I eat or drink, or whatever I do, it seems to me the trumpet sounds in my ear, Rise up, you that have been dead, and come to the judgment.” … There we shall all be, as St. Paul says, before the seat of our Lord Jesus Christ; where he shall […]
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Portrait of a Priest A holy-minded man of good renown There was, and poor, the Parson to a town, Yet he was rich in holy thought and work. He also was a learned man, a clerk, Who truly knew Christ’s gospel and would preach it Devoutly to parishioners, and teach it. Benign and wonderfully diligent, And patient when adversity was sent (For so he proved in much adversity) He hated […]
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The Architecture of Reason When reading Critique of Pure Reason, I get the sense that Kant has a penchant for visualization and architecture, so it seems appropriate to represent his system of Reason, as I understand it, with a diagram (shown above). Although I’m using his own terms (translated from German into English), I cannot be certain that I understand them the same way Kant does, partly because he has […]
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